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Mounting apprehensions are present about the potential of military engagement involving East African neighbors, the Ethiopian government and Eritrea, as aggressive rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks.

What Did Ethiopia Stated?

Ethiopia's, being landlocked, demands for access to the Red Sea through Eritrea has provoked a heated war of words.

Ethiopian Prime Minister first openly declared in the previous year that his country's access to the sea was an crucial concern, comments that Eritrea ignored.

Diplomatic connections between the neighboring nations have regularly been difficult. After a long-standing fight for sovereignty, the Eritrean state, which has a extensive maritime frontage, officially seceded from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, rendering it without sea access.

Five years later, a border war broke out in which over a hundred thousand people lost their lives.

Recent Comments from Ethiopian Government

Prime Minister Abiy and army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula have publicly asserted sovereignty of Eritrea's coastal city of Assab – about 60km from the frontier - and implied the wish to capture it through military means.

On 1 September, Abiy said Ethiopia's "error" of being denied passage to the sea as a result of Eritrea secession would be "corrected in the future".

The Ethiopian envoy to Kenya, ex-military officer Bacha, said that Assab was "Ethiopia's wealth" and would be returned "by force".

Eritrea's Response to the Threats

Despite continuous challenges from Ethiopian officials, Eritrea's response has been restricted to concise remarks on online platforms from Communications Head the minister.

He has rejected Ethiopia's push for sea access labeling it "hazardous" and a "negative policy" of "expansionism" – a strategy of retaking lost territory.

The information ministry alerted on 16 September that efforts to legitimise "flagrant aggression" would have significant repercussions for Ethiopia and its neighbouring countries and is a "limit that should not be crossed|violated|breached".

Defense Movements on the Ground

So far, there are little evidence of major military movements in the border areas between the both nations.

Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, national TV has displayed completion events of many recruits at different defense facilities.

The head of staff section of the defense force, the officer, stated recently in an interview that the army was in a "strong stance" as "tens of thousands of young people" were enlisting, which he said was "a warning to our adversaries".

Past Roots of the Conflict

For over fifty years from 1890, the territory was ruled by colonial powers.

After the end of Italian rule, it was then controlled by the British administration before evolving into a federated part of Ethiopia.

But in 1962 Emperor Haile Selassie I ended this arrangement and Eritrea became completely integrated into the Ethiopian state.

A three-decade long armed struggle ensued, ending with the government's loss in the early 1990s. Independence was then approved by voters in a vote in 1993.

Temporarily in the 1990s, there were friendly connections between the authorities in Addis Ababa and Asmara, but they clashed over the exact location of their mutual frontier, leading to war in 1998.

Even though this ended in a truce in 2000, it was partially applied, and the neighbors stayed at in dispute.

This situation improved in 2018, when Abiy made approaches to Eritrea's leader Isaias Afwerki. The both leaders agreed to a declaration that the hostilities was concluded – a action that gained Abiy the prestigious award.

The two governments were then cooperators in Ethiopia's 2020-2022 armed struggle in Tigray.

Yet ties have subsequently deteriorated anew.